Andrew Hudson runs race with blurry vision after cart crash at world championships
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — A collision involving a cart carrying 200-meter runners to their semifinal race at world championships Thursday sent glass shards flying into the right eye of Jamaican sprinter Andrew Hudson, forcing him to race with blurred vision.
The 26-year-old, racing in his first world championships, said doctors had flushed some of the glass out after the accident. He said he couldn’t see out of his right eye but he decided to race nonetheless.
He finished fifth, but track officials decided to advance him into Friday’s final, which will include nine sprinters, not the usual eight, with American Noah Lyles favored.
“I did the best I could do,” Hudson said after finishing in 20.38 seconds. “I was sitting in the middle of the room for like 20 minutes, trying to have a decision if I was going to compete or not. I worked hard to be here. And even under circumstances, everybody has hurdles in life. If I can run I’m going to try my best. So I tried.”
Lyles and others were in the cart with Hudson, as it transported the sprinters from their warmups to a waiting room near the track for what was supposed to be the first of the evening’s three semifinal races.
An aerial video taken outside the stadium shows the cart cruising down a sidewalk when another cart coming from a path to the left hits the athletes’ cart, sending a volunteer in the first cart tumbling out. The video then shifts to inside the athlete cart where Hudson is pressing his fingers against his right eye.
World Athletics said the sprinter was examined by doctors and cleared to compete. It said the volunteer was “also fine.” A spokesman from Budapest’s local organizing committee said it is “investigating the incident and reviewing the transport procedures.”
The race got pushed back about a half hour — run last in the series of three semifinals instead of first. Hudson was still shaken as he wound his way out of the post-race interviews and back toward the medical tent.
“It was scary,” he said. “It’s my eyesight. That’s more important. I’m not going to run track forever, but it just happens.”
Lyles won the semifinal in the night’s fastest time, 19.76 seconds, giving him a chance to defend his 200-meter title and add it to the 100 he won earlier this week.
“Survived a crash and still got the fastest time going into the final,” Lyles posted on Instagram. “Thank you God for watching over me.”